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What a simpler world it would be if Waco home buying could be reduced to anything like a simple 4-Step process. Even better if those were four easy steps. Actually, without actually coming out and saying so, that’s the tantalizing prospect hinted at on radio financial guru Dave Ramsey’s web site’s “Home Buying Process Made Easy.” Ramsey is the likable media expert in household budgeting and financial planning. A good deal of his guidance could be summed up in just 2 steps: 1) get out of debt (except for mortgage…

Even investors whose Waco rental homes have served long and well as income-producers can eventually decide it’s time to sell. Given today’s tight housing inventories, the current market does stack up as one where selling your tenant-occupied house can be a timely financial move. But if that is under consideration, what should you do about the current tenant? Is it better to wait until the current lease expires—so that the vacated property can be shown without having to deal with an inconvenienced (and possibly miffed) tenant? Or will it be…

Punxsutawney Phil may have decided to head back underground for a while longer, but since a roaring economy almost has to bring about an increase in prices, most expect Waco mortgage interest rates to start climbing up from their historically deep burrows. It may be that the specter of more expensive mortgage payments will launch this spring’s Waco selling season sooner than we would usually expect. If so, homeowners who plan to put their properties on the market will be confronting their own pricing issues right away—what’s the right asking…

Readers who check in here regularly know that every once in a while I’m moved to relate Waco real estate matters to various hot issues that are claiming the popular imagination. Such topics used to be called “water cooler talk” (but that was before we all started carrying water bottles around all day). So despite the fact that we may not gather around water coolers anymore, this the odds are that the leading topic of conversation won’t be the State of the Union or Waco high school basketball. I’m guessing…

It was right there in the entirely respectable Architectural Digest’s site: an article championing late-night stalking. Happily, it wasn’t the kind of stalking that winds up in a courtroom. The non-crime being confessed to on AD was writer Isabel Galupo’s “addiction” to late night stalking…through the real estate listings. The author admits to not being at all ready to actually buy a house. She is terrified by the prospect of permanent roots and doesn’t even really understand how a mortgage works. Thus, her nightly browsing is strictly recreational. She can’t…

For local homeowners whose Waco homes will be up for sale in 2018, there’s bound to be some consternation regarding how much time, effort, and budget need be directed to the project. In addition to formulating a timetable for extra maintenance in areas where signs of undue wear and tear stand out, there’s the question of whether more ambitious projects are called for. Often, a fresh coat of paint or some deep steam cleaning can make a real difference in how well Waco homes for sale show, but those are…

If you are a well-organized prospective Waco house buyer, you have been weighing many factors as you prepare to start serious house hunting. One of the factors to consider is seasonal: that is, which of the five seasons is most favorable for buying a house? It’s a fact that the most heavily favored among the seasonal choices is the traditional “peak selling season,” Spring-into-summer is the traditional busiest period for Waco residential activity—and logic dictates that there must be persuasive reasons why so many Waco house buyers opt to make…

When a young Waco home buyer first hears the term “earnest money deposit,” the words alone pretty much explain the general concept. But I make sure to clarify the details before we begin to put together our offer. The purpose of the earnest money deposit is to assure the seller that this is a buyer who is serious about completing the sale. If the seller does accept the offer, the earnest money is held in trust until it can be applied to the ultimate sale. Since this deposit is a…

There’s no challenging that ancient fable about the boy who cried wolf—which boils down to a simple story about why false alarms turn into more than minor irritants when a real wolf shows up. I can’t think of a comparable fable for the opposite situation, which is when an opportune circumstance has been ballyhooed so often that a surefire opportunity is allowed to slip by. Too bad there’s no fable that covers that situation—because I think we’re exactly there right now. The opportunity in question is for Waco residents—particularly those…

All of a sudden last month Waco readers might have come across a number of new articles dealing with the same topic: the problem young first time home buyers are encountering due to outstanding student loans. The target group is the millennials—everyone born between the early 1980s and 2000s. If you are one of them, you are frequently reminded that there are millions and millions of you out there. And millions who also share the same student loan problem. There are conflicting accounts of the precise size of the issue,…